Over Rs. 2400 Crore Lying Unclaimed and Inoperative in Banks: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in an RTI reply said that, more than Rs.2,400 crores is lying inoperative in bank accounts across the country. According to RBI, SBI group has over Rs.233 crore unclaimed funds in its 10 lakh accounts.

As on December 31, 2011, over Rs.1,900 crore in about 86 lakh accounts is lying inoperative in public sector banks, over Rs.233 crore in more than 14 lakh accounts in private sector banks and over Rs.69 crore in about 46,000 accounts is lying inoperative in foreign banks.

RBI in its circular stated that, if there are no transactions in the accounts for over a period of two years, then banks have to treat savings as well as current accounts as inoperative or dormant. Also, there should not be any charge for activation of an inoperative account. Moreover, the interest on savings accounts should be credited on regular basis whether the bank account is operative or not.

RBI said that, if a fixed deposit matures and proceeds are unpaid, the amount which is left unclaimed with the bank will attract savings bank interest rate. It also asked banks to find the details of the customers or legal heirs in respect to the existing accounts that have already been transferred to the ‘inoperative accounts’ ledger.